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Committee approves annual permit-fee waiver to incentivize residential and small commercial solar
Summary
The Community Affairs Committee approved a capped annual fee waiver—first 15 residential and first 5 commercial solar permits—to encourage solar installations and support Wauwatosa’s 2020 energy resolution goals; the motion passed 6-0.
The Community Affairs Committee approved a program to waive annual city permit fees for a limited number of solar installations to promote residential and commercial rooftop solar.
The program, proposed by Megan Conway, sustainability manager in the Department of Public Works, would waive the $150 permit fee on a first-come, first-served basis for the first 15 residential solar permits and the first 5 commercial solar permits each year. Conway said the waiver is intended to remove a small barrier to installation and to help normalize solar across neighborhoods.
Conway framed the proposal as part of the city’s effort to meet community-wide carbon neutrality goals set out in the 2020 City of Wauwatosa energy resolution and noted that residential and commercial electricity use accounted for more than half of the city’s reported emissions in 2024. She told the committee the city has seen increasing solar permit activity since 2021 — “Since 2021, through April of this year, there have been 88 residential solar permits and 4 commercial solar permits pulled,” she said — and that the fee waiver is modeled on technical guidance from the SolSmart program.
Committee discussion focused on the program’s cap and whether the waiver would be claimed primarily by customers who already planned installations. Conway said the program’s annual, first-come structure would provide opportunities to target outreach in subsequent years if early participants are primarily those already committed to install.
A motion to approve the permit-fee waiver program was made by Alder Franzen and seconded by Alder Champagne. The committee approved the motion on a voice vote, 6-0.
Key financial and program points were presented by staff but committee members requested follow-up on month-by-month permit timing and outreach strategies to reach households not already considering solar.
